1. تعشقْتُ نفساً ما رأيت لها عيناً

    وما سمعتْ أذناي فيها من الخلقِ

    I fell in love with a soul whose visible form I had never seen,

    nor had my ears heard about her from created beings

  2. كلاماً يؤدّيني إلى حسن عينها

    فعشقي لها بالاتفاقِ وبالوفق

    words that would lead me to the beauty of her essence.

    So my love for her is through accord and harmony—

  3. مناسبة تخفى على كلِّ ناظر

    ويعلمها العلاَّم بالرتْقِ والفتْق

    an affinity hidden from every onlooker,

    which the All-Knowing knows through joining and sundering.

  4. أشاهد منها كلَّ سرٍّ محجبٍ

    وما لي فيها غير ذلك من حَقِّ

    I behold every veiled secret of hers,

    and I have no claim concerning her beyond that.

  5. وليس حجابي غير كوني فلو مضى

    قعدت مع المحبوبِ في مقعد الصدق

    My veil is nothing but my existence; were it to vanish,

    I would sit with the Beloved in the seat of truth.

  6. وهذا محال أن يكون ذهابه

    فما ثَمَّ صفوٌ لا يخلطُ بالرفق

    But its passing away is impossible,

    for there is no purity unmixed with gentleness.

  7. تجلّى لنا بالأفقْ بدراً مكملاً

    وإن فؤادي لا يحنّ إلى الأفق

    He manifested Himself to us on the horizon as a perfected full moon,

    yet my heart does not yearn for the horizon.

  8. وإن كان حقاً فالمجالي كثيرةٌ

    وشرعي نهاني عنه في حلبةِ السبقِ

    And even if it is real, the sites of manifestation are many,

    and my sacred law barred me from it in the racing arena.

  9. لقد أوَّبَ الحقُّ العليمُ بلادنا

    نفوسَ عبادٍ حظُّها الوهم إذ يلقى

    Indeed, the all-knowing Real has brought back to our lands

    souls of servants whose portion is illusion when He is encountered.

  10. وسرَّحني في كلِّ وجه بوجهة

    ولم يتقيد لي بغربِ ولا شرقِ

    And He let me roam in every direction, toward a destination,

    and He was not confined for me to west or east.

  11. وفرَّق لي ما بين كوني وكونه

    وإنَّ وجودَ السعد في ذلك الفرق

    And He distinguished for me my being from His being,

    and indeed felicity is found in that distinction.

  12. تعالى فلم تَعلم حقيقةُ ذاتِه

    سَغِلت فلم أجهل فحدِّي في نُطقي

    Exalted is He; the reality of His essence remains unknown.

    I [unclear verb], so I was not unknown; my definition lies in my speech.

  13. ولم أدر أنَّ الحدَّ يشملُ كونه

    وكوني إذا كانت هويته خلقي

    And I did not know that the definition encompasses His being

    and my being, when His identity is my created form,

  14. كما جاء في الوحي المقرَّرِ صدقه

    على ألسن الأرسالِ والقولُ للحق

    as stated in the revelation whose truth is established,

    on the tongues of the messengers—and the saying belongs to the Real:

  15. به يسمع العبدُ المطيعُ به يرى

    به يظهر الأفعال في الفتقِ والرتق

    Through Him the obedient servant hears; through Him he sees.

    Through Him he manifests deeds in sundering and joining.

  16. لو أنَّ الذي قد لاح منه يلوح لي

    ولا شرع عندي ما جنحتُ إلى الفِسقِ

    If what had appeared from Him were to appear to me,

    and I had no sacred law, I would not incline toward sin.

  17. وكنتُ بما قد لاح لي في بصيرةٍ

    فقيدني بالشرعِ كشفاً وما يبقى

    And through what had appeared to me, I would have insight.

    So He bound me by sacred law through unveiling, and nothing remains

  18. خلافاً فإنَّ الأمر فيه لواحد

    ولا ينكر الحقَّ الذي جاء بالحقِّ

    in opposition, for the affair belongs therein to One.

    Nor does the one who came with truth deny the Real.

  19. إلهي يحبُ الرفقَ في الأمر كله

    كذلك أهلُ الله يأتون بالرفق

    My God loves gentleness in all affairs;

    likewise, the people of God act with gentleness.

  20. لقد شاهدتْ عيني ثلاثَ أسرَّة

    وفي ثالثٍ منها ازورارٌ مِنَ العرق

    My eye has indeed beheld three couches,

    and the third of them was turned aside by sweat.

  21. وأخره عن صاحبيه اعتراقه

    وكلٌّ له شربُ رويٍّ من الحق

    Its sweating [sense uncertain] held it back behind its two companions,

    and each has a thirst-quenching draught from the Real.

  22. موازين لا تخطيك فالوزن قائمٌ

    ولا سيما في عالم الحبِّ والعشق

    Scales that do not miss you, for the weighing stands,

    especially in the realm of love and passion.

  23. ظفرتُ به حقاً جلياً مقدساً

    ولا حقَّ إلا ما تضمنه حقي

    I attained Him as a manifest, hallowed reality,

    and no reality exists except what my reality contains.

  24. نطقتُ به عنه فكان منطقي

    وقد زاد في الإشكالِ ما بي من النطقِ

    I spoke through Him of Him, and so my speech came to be,

    and the speech within me has deepened the perplexity.

  25. تقسم هذا الأمر بيني وبينه

    فها هو في شِقٍّ وها أنا في شِقِّ

    This affair was divided between me and Him:

    so here He is on one side, and here I am on the other.

  26. وصورةُ هذا ما أقول لصاحبي

    أنا عبد قنٍّ وهو لي مالك الرِّق

    And the form of this is what I say to my companion:

    I am a bond-slave, and He is the master of my bondage.

  27. عبوديةٌ ذاتيةٌ لم أزل بها

    وما لي عنها من فكاك ولا عتق

    An intrinsic servitude in which I have always remained,

    and from which I have neither release nor emancipation.

  28. إذا رزق العبد النهي لنيل ما

    يكون من الرزق من خالص الرزق

    When the servant is granted restraint, to attain what

    is sustenance drawn from pure sustenance,

  29. وما رُزق الإنسان أعلى من الذي

    يحصله بالعين في لمحةِ البَرق

    and no human is granted anything higher than what

    he obtains with the eye in a flash of lightning.

  30. فذلك رزقُ الذاتِ ما هو غيره

    وآثاره فينا الذي كان في الوَدْق

    That, then, is the sustenance of the Essence; it is nothing else,

    and its traces in us are what was in the rain.